


Small Harmony

by silentfilmsmile



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M, Nerds in Love, Total complete fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2015-07-17
Packaged: 2018-04-09 17:32:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4358087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silentfilmsmile/pseuds/silentfilmsmile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared buys Tomb Raider for Richard, and remembers another time when they played video games together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Small Harmony

“Richard!” Jared stepped into the house, head slightly bowed. “I have something for you!”

Richard pushed away from his laptop, grateful for the distraction. He’d been stuck on this bug for two hours. At the sight of his boyfriend grinning and holding up a small GameStop bag, he couldn’t help but smile back.

“Uh, what is it? I thought you weren’t into video games that much?” Richard was concerned that the game inside might be The Beatles Rock Band, given Jared’s fondness for both karaoke and soft rock, and he wasn’t quite sure how to tell Jared that he’d rather gouge his own eyes out with Erlich’s tiny yogurt spoon.

Jared grabbed a chair and sat in front of Richard. Carla was on the other side of the work table, pointedly ignoring them. At least Dinesh and Gilfoyle were off on their latest _annoy each other until you come do what I want_ not-date date.

Richard was curious now. Jared was always so damn thoughtful with his gifts, bringing him lunch from a place he’d mentioned in passing two weeks ago, or getting him new noise-cancelling headphones when he noticed the padding was wearing thin. If he was so excited about this one, it must be something cool. _Maybe the new Assassin’s Creed?_ he thought.

In his mustard yellow cardigan, surprisingly not clashing with Jared’s pale skin - then again, Jared looked good in everything - and pressed khakis, he leaned toward Richard.

“Don’t you want to open it?” Jared raised his eyebrows.

Richard realized he’d zoned out for a few seconds. He really had to work on that. When Jared got tired of his inability to listen, he would never believe that Richard was usually daydreaming about him. Logically, he should be thinking about the Jared right in front of him, not his own brain’s opinion of said Jared, but social logic was never his strong suit.

Richard cursed himself for his inability to be in the moment, blaming his overactive anxious brain, and focused on Jared’s bright blue eyes. They were stupidly pretty. He marveled again at the fact that Jared - uncool, brilliant, beautiful, selfless Jared - liked him. Richard Hendricks, Human Disaster.

“Yeah! Give it to me.” Richard said, holding his hands out the short distance to Jared’s chest.

He took the opportunity to poke him below the ribs, where he knew Jared was ticklish. Richard surprised Jared enough that he dropped the bag, and Richard grabbed it, exclaiming.

“Ha!”

“Richard, I was about to give it to you. Was that really necessary?” Jared’s voice was slightly stern, but the corners of his mouth were turned up.

“Well, this way I get the present and I got to touch you.” Richard cringed inwardly as soon as he said it. His flirting needed work, if Carla’s snort from behind her screen was any indication. Nonetheless, Jared’s cheeks were slightly pink.

Richard pulled a case out of the bag, looking at the cover. “Tomb Raider?” he was surprised. “This is supposed to be really good. It was on Slant’s list for 2013.”

Jared smiled. “My research indicates that this game is thrilling and intense, but also progressive in terms of its desexualized representation of female characters.”

Richard stared at him, amused, while Jared continued. “Anita Sarkeesian’s research, while potentially biased, is quite compelling.”

He noticed that Jared was looking a little bit towards Carla as he spoke. Richard had never known anyone so keen to make everyone around him feel safe.

Grabbing his boyfriend’s hand, Richard got up and dragged him into the den. He decided that work could wait, and he wouldn’t be able to fix the bug until he looked at it with fresh eyes anyway.

\----------------

Jared could be fascinated watching Richard do most things, but watching him play video games was one of his favorites. Something about the immersive experience made Richard come out of his shell a bit, speak louder and smile more.

The first time he and Richard kissed, it was in front of a video game.

The whole house had been crowded around the TV until late, blowing off steam by shooting zombies or something. Gradually everyone went to bed, but Richard stayed up. Jared stayed too, citing the smell of the ferrets as his excuse.

Jared hated lying, but it was better than telling his boss that he’d spent his lunch hour looking at his Hooli employee profile, which he still had administrative access to.

After a particularly difficult fight where his character died, the game music turning somber, Richard had declared “I’m hungry.”

Jared turned to look at him, noticing for the first time how close they were on the couch. Neither of them were particularly uncomfortable with it.

“I think I saw some popcorn in the kitchen?” Jared suggested. “I could microwave it.”

Richard, mellowed out from sleep deprivation, closed his eyes. “Mmm… popcorn. Yes. Extra butter.”

Jared got up and went to the kitchen, heart beating fast. It made him happy to see Richard so relaxed and content. He wished he could make Richard feel like that all the time.

When he returned to the couch, Richard was attempting the level again. He was focused on the screen, but he smiled slightly as Jared walked in picking popcorn out of a huge plastic bowl. He held out the bowl to Richard, who shook his head.

“Can’t- take my hands away. Almost got it.” “More for me, then!” Jared had mumbled, the hour and rather intoxicating presence of this small, nerdy, adorable CEO making him less cautious than usual. He would normally refrain from sarcasm like that. But Richard made him do a lot of things he didn’t think he would do.

Richard turned his head slightly to Jared, mouth open. “I need popcorn. Toss it.”

Laughing - partially from amusement and partially to diffuse the awkward sexual tension that was the result someone asking another person to put something in their mouth - Jared began tossing popcorn into Richard’s mouth. He missed the first few, which fell into the couch cushions. They’d have to clean that up before Erlich saw.

Jared shifted around on the couch to get a better angle.

He threw another piece, and Richard moved his head to just barely catch it between his teeth.

“Booyah!” Jared exclaimed, which made Richard giggle.

Jared hated how cute his boss was when he laughed, and it was twice as bad when Jared had caused the laughing.

When Richard kept laughing, while nimbly pressing buttons on the controller, Jared fake glared. He began tossing several pieces of popcorn toward Richard’s mouth. Richard tried catching the first few, but eventually gave up as the onslaught increased.

“Not fair! I’m- beating-” Richard dropped the controller when a piece of popcorn hit him directly in the eye.

His hands flew to his eye, trying to wipe off the salt and butter that had gotten around his eyelid.

“You fucking blinded me, Jared!” Richard was trying not to laugh.

Jared immediately put the bowl down, expression changing from joyful to concerned in a millisecond. “Richard, I am so, so sorry. I didn’t-”

He knelt in front of Richard on the couch, genuinely worried. “I have administered first-aid before in an office environment, Richard, I’m qualified to help. May I see your eye?”

Richard let him, moving his hands awkwardly to his lap.

Jared took a breath, leaning forward. “I’m just going to look at your eye and make sure there’s no irritants in it. Let me know if I cause you any pain.”

To hold Richard’s face steady, Jared put his hand on the other man’s cheek. It was surprisingly warm. Jared lifted up the injured eyelid with his other hand, checking for any trace of salt or popcorn. He concluded that Richard’s eye looked fine, if slightly irritated from Richard touching it.

“Well, it looks okay.” Jared almost whispered. “Just try to rinse it out... when you, um, shower.”

He swallowed. His other hand was still on Richard’s cheek, why was it still there? Why was he still so close to Richard’s long eyelashes, his thin but very pink lips?

More importantly, why was Richard staring at him like that? He stared like he’d just discovered a new method, just solved a problem he’d been thinking about forever. He looked at Jared like he could see every idea he would ever dream up, every possibility, in the other man’s eyes.

Jared felt dizzy. He blinked slowly. Before Jared could think about how ridiculous he probably looked, Richard closed the small gap between them and pressed his lips to Jared’s.

The moment shifted, their small harmony snapping into sharp clarity. Richard gasped slightly and leaned back. “Oh, shit um, I- is that okay? If I do that?”

Jared saw that Richard’s eyes were bright, all traces of exhaustion gone, and he saw that Richard’s lips were even pinker, and he managed to breathe out “Yes,” before pulling Richard back to him by his t-shirt.

\----------------

Bringing his attention back to the present, Jared laid back on the couch, lifting his long legs onto Richard’s lap. Richard, eyes on the Tomb Raider opener, immediately lifted his arms, laying them back down once Jared was situated.

“Sorry, am I boring you? I can play this later, we can do a multiplayer.” Richard glanced over at his boyfriend. “It’s just incredible how good the graphics are on our 360. Think of the resolution on the PS4 in the sequel!”

Jared grinned. “No, go ahead. I like watching you play.”

Richard elbowed him in the shin, but pulled Jared’s legs in closer, leaning over them as the gameplay started.

They passed the whole evening that way, Jared alternately watching Richard play and answering e-mails on his phone -- he couldn’t very well leave work _entirely_.

Jared listened to Richard’s periodic enthusiastic comments on Tomb Raider’s plot, characterization, controls, everything. Richard had a lot of opinions about video games, Jared had discovered. Almost as many as Jared had about organizational tools.

So he didn’t feel too guilty if he zoned out a bit during Richard’s comments-- he knew that Richard did the same when he’d asked Jared offhandedly where he learned SWOT, or when Jared discovered a new calendar app.

He knew that the reason they worked, as business partners and as boyfriends, was the goals they shared. Different methods, different styles, but they meshed well. Each one needed the other. Jared knew exactly how cheesy that was, but the feeling was so powerful- had been since he showed up at Erlich’s door with champagne, if he was being honest, which he always wanted to be- that he didn’t care.

Jared had longed for that connection with someone, the kind that clicked into place effortlessly. He’d seen it between his classmates and their parents, formed by biology or nurturing; he’d seen it between his friends at college as he watched them fall in love. He saw, and knew, but never felt it.

Until he began to know Richard. He wondered if Richard knew how much he meant to him, if maybe his small gifts, his affection and devotion, wasn’t enough. Richard could be rather clueless sometimes. But then he thought about the easy way Richard touched him, trusted him, believed him when Jared told him how wonderful he was. These were not so simple for him. Of course Richard knew.

Sometimes Jared thought that, for both of them, it was the first time they felt completely secure in being loved. He drifted off, thinking about the future of Pied Piper, of Richard and him, of all of it, and feeling the weight of Richard’s arms on his legs, keeping him steady.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've posted, I hope you liked it??
> 
> I know my video game lingo leaves something to be desired, sorry!
> 
> Also, I honestly tried to not write a get-together fic, but here we are regardless


End file.
